Maximum temperature of wood stove bodies... Does 230C seem quite low?

[markc]

13 minutes ago, Oxbow16 said:

Hi all

 

Just thought I'd revisit this as I can't stop mulling it over to try to make sense of it!  A couple of things...

 

I noticed yesterday that the Woodwarm Foxfire (4kW) has a maximum stove body temperature of 350C.  120C more than the Fireview.  They both have a similar internal layout, are both steel and both have 30mm mica based fire boards.  So that's got me scratching my head! 

 

Since learning more about all this, I can now see how the glass plays a part in the heat output, and how the internal heat is relevant to many things (burning of secondary gases, flue temps, emissions, etc).  But it still seems logical to me that the temperature of the stove body will have a direct bearing on the amount of heat that can radiate out into the room.  And as such, I can't understand how a stove that's only a bit bigger physically can quadruple the kW output.  Unless it's logarithmic...   ???

Americans tend to like to do things on a grander scale (no offence to any Americans reading, and I mean it as a sweeping statement).  Having read a fair few threads on the net discussing stove temps, some of the more cavalier wood burning folk discussing running their stoves to a body temp of over 1,000F.  I've even seen 1,200F mentioned (that's 650C in our money)!  Whilst that sounds like a serious recipe for disaster and I have no aspirations to burn my house down, it did on the other hand make 230C maximum seem a touch puny. 

 

Cheers   

Ive seen some stove claims and advertising that left me shaking my head.

Saw one that claimed they used special glass that reflected most of the heat back inwards to improve safety ...hmmm, surely the whole point of a log burner is to radiate as much heat as possible,

Yes the glass will have a big effect on heat output, and how anyone can give maximum case temperatures puzzles me, insulation controls the temp by limiting the escape of heat where you dont want it, but fire burn temperature depends on the fuel and air (oxygen) available,

In a previous property i had a log burner that was pathetic so i removed the side and front insulation (big old hearth space so not worried about fire) and the effect was amazing, used about 75% less wood and heated the room much better.